1. Field
An external additive for toner applicable to an image forming apparatus, a process for producing the same, and a toner including the same are disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus, which is a device such as an electrofax forming an electrostatic image and exposing the same to light to visualize the image information, has been widely used in various technical fields.
Among these apparatuses, the electrofax forms an electrostatic image on a photoreceptor through a charge process and a photolithography process and develops the electrostatic image by a developer including toner, and then visualizes the developed electrostatic image through a transferring process and a fixing process.
The developer used in the electrofax may be broadly classified into a two-component developer, including a toner and a carrier, or a one-component developer, including a magnetic toner or a non-magnetic toner. Both kinds of developers generally include an external additive for the toner added on the surface of toner particles to improve the liquidity or cleaning property of the toner.
The external additive for the toner is a particulate including an inorganic compound or an organic compound, and the force between the toner particle and the external additive for the toner may be governed by electrostatic attractive force (coulombic force) and/or physical force (Van der Waals force), but it is generally governed by electrostatic attractive force.